


Close

by Vivian



Category: Naruto
Genre: Character Study, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Love, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, Obito-centric, spite and suffering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-02
Updated: 2017-06-02
Packaged: 2018-11-08 02:38:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11072340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivian/pseuds/Vivian
Summary: All the stars have withered. Obito dreams of her in the dark. There, her laughter echoes.





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**Author's Note:**

> Thanks goes to my [darling](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelas) whose encouragement means everything to me and who beta'd this as wisely as she always does <3  
> Also to acian0 who is ever there to drag me deeper into the feelings hell :'D

1

 

All the stars have withered. Obito dreams of her in the dark. There, her laughter echoes.

She is radiant, clear as day, spring-tide caught in her smile. Warmth spreads through his tightening chest. Her gaze is like sunlight on his face. She is always there when he stumbles, and that is enough to make him want to get up again. She is...never quite within reach. But that, too, is alright. He'd stay a step behind her for all time if only she’d looked upon him like she does now. He wants to be the best self he can be. He wants to be worthy of her, even if she will not have him. (Would she? Would she ever?) She's lit a fire within him that illumines the world. Her presence deepens the sky's blue, and any one thing might bloom a brighter colour if only he thinks of her living in this world beside him. Watching over him. But he is not the only one she watches over. She watches over Kakashi, too. Though Kakashi does not need anyone. It makes Obito's stomach twist, because he knows between the two of them, Kakashi is the better. He's stronger, he's cleverer, and more handsome, as well. All the girls cheer for him, but Obito only cares for her. And she, she cheers for him, too. He wants—he doesn't know. He wants her to be happy. He wants to be happy. He wants them to be happy together. It does not matter _how_. It does not matter if Kakashi is right there between them. As long as he protects her and as long as she is happy.

 

2

 

The twilight never fades. For years to come, it swallows every breath of dawn. And Obito is within the twilight's belly, too, choked of light with only _him_ as company. And his creatures. The scent of wet earth, the churning of monstrous roots cracking open the rock beneath them. The roots are everywhere. Marred mementos of Lord First, cloven from his flesh in his last battle with he who keeps Obito prisoner. Madara. He offers sanctuary or despair, and Obito has long forgotten which is the right choice. The choice that might bring him back to her.

Time has left Madara bereft of dignity, naked in his shame. He can barely walk, and there are days (nights?) that Obito has to grip his bony arm to keep him from falling. But power remains within the black of his eyes. Inside, Madara still _burns_. Obito does not yet know that his life will be cinders left in Madara's wake. He stays with him. He is by his side when with his last breath, Madara utters the name of one once dearest. Obito is by his side, when after twenty years of sable slumber, Madara awakens. Midst crumbled mountains and laid bare seas, Madara stands and distributes death. It is a gift in this accursed world. Wailing is all about them. The shouts of those left standing between broken bodies, where blood seeps into soil. Those still fighting, clinging with all they have to life.

Obito looks upon Madara and there is no doubt: delight dances in Madara's gaze as he swipes it across the changed landscape. _This reminds me of old days..._ Madara says, and for a moment, he looks truly alive.

The years Obito spent as part of Minato sensei's team belong to someone else. They don't belong to him anymore. Nothing does. He is shadow cast by Madara's flame. But there will be sunlight. There will be peace. A world with only love. For everyone.

Except Kakashi.

Obito will make sure of that.

 

3

 

Obito watches Kakashi at day and dreams of him at night. Kakashi is marmoreal and pale. He carries his guilt like any sinner: with suffering and self pity that drives gall into Obito's mouth. It is Kakashi's fault. All of this. He is not entitled to suffering. Nor to pity. Obito watches him and he wants to claw into Kakashi, wants to claw something out of himself—doesn't want this, all, any of it. He can't bear it. Her smile dissolves before his eyes. Night after night, within the darkling cave, he sees death. Sees Kakashi kill her. It does not matter why. She dies, and that is the sum of it. That is the worth of Kakashi's promise.

Some nights Obito wakes crying, sweat clinging to his body, and Madara's gaze upon him. There are no words between them, these nights, but in the slant of Madara's mouth Obito finds—something. Understanding perhaps, though there is no kindness to it. And Obito hates him, and Obito loves him, because there is no other way to survive.

When at last Madara exhales his final breath, it is not he who dies, but Obito. Thereon, there is only Madara.

 

4

 

For more than a decade, Obito walks in Madara's footsteps. Ever onward to the infinite dream. He gives himself to Madara completely. It is almost a relief. To let go. He wades through blood red as luck, red as happiness. He wants to be nothing. He wants to dissolve. He wants to dream.

This world is unbearable, but he must bear it, must endure. Hide his heart. So she may once more live, so no other must fall, so peace will finally reign. A century of slumber, a hundred years of love, and then, the end. When even the last of them has grown frail in the tree's embrace, when all the lights go out. Humankind will walk towards the edge of the abyss, smiling. The fall will be a mercy.

There will be no more, and no-one.

Nothing will matter. Not the boy he once was, not the friend he made and lost in but a day, not his betrayal, not her death. The cycle will be broken. All suffering will be extinguished with no-one there to remember it. They will be as they were before they came into this cursed world. Nothing, nothing, _nothing_. The peace of night after an age-long day.

All eyes closed.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!  
> also check out my [ Obito paintings](http://summeringminor.tumblr.com/tagged/obito).


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